Building a Discipling Community
by Dan Juster, Director, Tikkun Ministries International

The Quest for Congregational Community and its
Abandonment

Many in our day, especially
among the younger generation, have given up the quest to build community
in the Messiah. Yet, the Bible is very clear. The Gospel of the Kingdom
is to be expressed in congregational communities under the authority of
legitimate elders. This community is to be a worshipping, praying and
discipling community where members are both mutually accountable to each
other and to elder overseers. In addition, the elders are accountable to
one another, to the congregation and to appropriate outside oversight.
Even a superficial reading of the New Covenant Scriptures shows this to
be God's will. Yeshua declares that He will establish His
congregation and "the gates of hell will not prevail against it"
(Matthew 16:18). The Book of Acts records the founding of the first
Messianic Jewish community and the planting of congregations throughout
the known world. The letters of the New Covenant were written to
congregational communities or to individuals who were given instructions
about their part in the communities. So why is there such a problem
today?

Our Search

Forty-two years ago, Patty and I began our quest for the meaning of New
Covenant community. We were disillusioned with much of what we saw as
the Church (of course, this was before Messianic Judaism had taken root
and become known). We could not see how just meeting once a week,
standing up to sing one hymn at a time, sitting down, having
announcements and hearing a sermon was a reflection of the communal
dimension we saw in the Bible. We read Bonhoeffer's Life
Together and began to explore alternative Christian communities like
Reba Place in Evanston, Illinois. Since that time, as some of our
readers will remember, I have coined a couple of phrases to describe the
sad state of affairs in many churches: "religious event manufacturing
corporations" and practicing "competitive free enterprise ecclesiology".
There had to be a better way. Patty and I committed ourselves to seeing
people built into life together, living near one another, meeting in
small sharing groups and seeing qualified elders in place in our
congregations. It has been a wonderful and rich life with lasting
friendship relationships of 30 to 40 years.

There are many reasons why young people are abandoning the faith and (if
they do not totally abandon the faith) are abandoning long-term
commitment in congregational life. Here are some of them:

Western Individualism

Life in America, the West and, yes, even in Israel, is a life of
individualism. As such, Biblical faith is translated into a distorted
individualistic relationship with God that ignores the essential communal
dimensions for growth, discipleship and manifesting the Kingdom of God.
The congregation is seen as a collection of individuals in a meeting. So
it is very easy to forego this form of congregational life.

The Lack of an Enriching Communal Experience

Many young adults have never experienced real community. We tend to give
ourselves to what was enriching in our upbringing. If we remember a good
marriage and family, we want to reproduce it. If we remember a deep and
secure congregational community growing up, we want to reproduce this
kind of life in the next generation. Many young adults simply do not
have any point of reference for community life in Yeshua. Having grown
up in the "religious event manufacturing corporation", many are saying
that they have "been there and done that". What's the use of
continuing in this pattern of life? Simply entertaining the saints no
longer inspires.

The Pain of Community Failures

Many young adults have grown up experiencing the failure of community.
Lasting community is a product of the Spirit working through qualified I
Timothy 3 elders. These standards for elders are a key to community
building. Well-intentioned leaders who do not have the character
qualifications for eldership, are unable to build community that can
endure. If young people have grown up seeing a few such failures, they
will no longer want to give themselves to the quest. Building quality
community seems the impossible dream. It is undeniably true that it is
hard to join people together; there is so much selfishness and pride or
ego to overcome. Yet it can be done; it is being done. We can overcome; it
is the central meaning of the Gospel. We cannot give up the quest.

How Does it Make a Difference in the Lives of People?

A community vision can only inspire the younger generation if they see
how it makes a difference. If the community does not have strong
discipling patterns, those who grow up in a congregation will see
ineffectiveness. Instead of seeing people changing into the likeness of
Yeshua, they remain unchanged year after year. The ethical quality of the
life of the members does not impress our young people. Professing
believers seem hypocritical and certainly do not demonstrate the power of
the Gospel. Yet Yeshua said we are to engage in the primary task of
discipleship in community. The task is not to entertain, but to teach our
people and enable them to obey all of His commandments. Difficult? Yes,
but it can be done.

How Does it Make a Difference in the World?

In a Biblical vision of community, the members are trained in the
kingdom's principles for their vocations in all spheres of society.
A community that instructs its members in this fashion is relevant in the
highest degree. Such a community teaches people how give godly testimony
to the Kingdom of God. This includes business people, journalists,
politicians, teachers, scientists, doctors, artists and so many more. It
teaches them the biblical use of money so that God's blessing is
established in their lives. I dare say that most congregations in the
West have no clue about training their people in these basic principles
for their vocations! For young adults, a Gospel that is only about going
to heaven after death is not a sufficient vision to capture their
passion.

We Allow our Young People to be Acculturated to the
World

In addition, we tend to send our young people to public schools that
teach them secular relativism (i.e. there is no real truth in religion
and ethics). They spend 35 hours a week being indoctrinated in our public
schools, if not explicitly, at least in attitudes. The power of the peer
group is woefully under-estimated or ignored by many parents. Then they
attend secular colleges where such post-modern relativism is taught with
a vengeance. Since we did not prepare them by teaching them world-view
foundations and assumptions, they are no match for their professors and
the socialization power of their student friends. Christian
Overman's excellent book Assumptions is a highly recommended
read for all young adults.

So What Can We Do?

The answer begins in prayer. Only a mighty move of the Spirit can reverse
this. We must pray for revelation that will show the nature of the
community to which we are called. We must pray for people who understand
this call to build a biblical community that disciples and begin to
practice it. We must also pray for real elders to arise or be appointed
who can form and lead model communities that will influence the very
nature of congregational life today. Our dream is to do this in Israel; a
very difficult place to bring this about. In Israel, we face the
challenge of the same problematic trends in the West. However, our
success could be a model for the world.